Feeling removed

For various reasons, Mr RR, little man and I are out in Italy right now, staying in the building the renovation of which inspired this blog.  It's lovely to be back: really touching to be offered such a warm welcome by so many who have become a part of our day-to-day lives out here - the ladies in the deli, dear neighbours, those who recognise us from the beach, and so on.  It's also funny to see how little things change: just a few days here and the woman who lives round the corner has already accosted us at our front door to complain about "l'aqua nella strada!" complete with accusatory finger-wagging!

It's really not ideal timing to be away from BH's renovation while it's in these final stages.  It's hard to be direct with the builders, trying to drive the project on, when they know you are calling between trips to the beach!  And for me it's tricky finding the balance between letting go, enjoying a relaxing break away, and monitoring the progress so when I return I'm happy with all the micro-decisions made in my absence.  All this whilst trying while I'm here to avoid the extremes of appearing like I don't care or like I am some control-freak, sat on the beach fretting about grout!

The way I see it, if I'm not able to switch off completely, and I think it would be foolish to try to, then I may as well get progress updates from the builder to help me feel reassured when I'm thinking about it, that things are going as well as I would hope.

Skinny minny en suite!

As an example, here is a situation where I could really do with being on site.  This en suite bathroom is only 85cm wide (it's fitted into what was originally space allocated to a staircase!).  The plan was to have the basin recessed into the wall to maximise space to get round it, but it can only be recessed 6cm!  Apparently the gap's more or less 50cm between it and the back wall but it doesn't look much does it?  Sometimes there's no replacement for being on site walking back and forth testing how a space works, especially when said space has pointy corners jutting out into it!

Following on from the last post on tiling, here's a little introduction to the wonders of underfloor heating!  We have never had piped UFH before, always electric, but seeing as we have had issues using electric UFH in large areas before and I have been assured less can go wrong with piped, we thought we'd give it a try in BH's kitchen and hallway.

Specialist matting to secure the water pipes

Here's the controls for the whole system

Fully piped, self-levelling screed going over

So so so much of this stuff to fill all the gaps!

Beautiful greigy tiles, diagonally = so happy!

Of course, at every stage, I can always count on little man to make sure things go smoothly!

Someone's got to tidy up the site!

Checking stability of the walls!

P.S. The builder thought it was hilarious I let him get so dusty!  Seriously, this kid was rolling around on the floor having the time of his life!  What's a renovation ragazza to do?!  It's just dust, right?!  

Random tiling

I don't know much about tiling, but I'm learning.  I think a certain gentleman on site may be learning valuable lessons of a different type too!

It would be fair to describe the man in question as older.  He's probably retirement age and came across as an old charmer when he started on site a couple of weeks ago as a tiler in one of the en suites.  With very little English language but full of hand gestures that showed appreciation for my eyes, hair, clothes, etc. he seemed harmless enough and made everyone smile.

So, back to the tiling.  Standard patterns include brick (see below) and grid (where all the tiles are lined up with straight grout lines).  You get herringbone and 2/3 and variations on all of these, but brick and grid are probably the most commonly used.

He started well enough with the shower area of the en suite:

Brick style metro

I then asked for the floor tiles to be placed in a random staggered way.  Much confusion!  But they got it in the end and staggered the floor tiles randomly.

Staggering!

When I asked for the same running horizontally on the wall I was equally clear.  This is what I got:

See the problem?!

Not only are the tiles running vertically, the grout lines are clearly lined up so it looks very un-random, very un-staggered and very much like brick pattern!  (Maybe the lady didn't know what she really wanted so he just did it the way he thought looked best?!)

Not only that but over what will be the recess for the mirror he has run them horizontally, because it involves less cutting I'm guessing (and probably the lady won't ever notice, right?!).

Not random, just inconsistent and bad!

And then there was this:

Spot the mistake on the bottom tile trim?

A few chats later with the boss and the gentleman tiler is re-tiling this wall and fixing the tile trim, and I suspect talks far less now with the team about my beautiful eyes and far more about less desirable qualities he may deem me to have like wanting what I asked for!

At times like these, I find myself questioning whether I'm being overly picky - whether other people would just let it go.  I console myself in this instance with the following facts:

1. I offered at least three times to draw a plan for the tiling,
2. the design was confirmed verbally by the boss with the tiler present,
3. other parts of the tiling were done horizontally, like the niche in the photo above.

(Plus, I warned the builder, in no uncertain terms, that I am super-fussy when it comes to the finish, in particular tiling, and that he would likely hate me when it came to this point of the project!)

This wasn't a miscommunication or language problem, just a pure and simple cock-up!  So I'm okay if I come across less like the charming lady the gentleman tiler thought he was dealing with when he first met me, as I firmly (but fairly, no?) convey I'd like his work done the way I asked!

P.S. In the end, I suggested a compromise: remove and re-fit some of the tiles so that the overall effect was staggered, without switching them all to being horizontal.  I know, I know: I'm a softie!

Staggered!

P.P.S. While on the subject of tiling: here's how this renovation ragazza handles those moments on site when you just have to give the builders your full attention for key decisions, but your little man has lost all appetite for being held quietly!

Artist at work!

Breaking down walls and a nudge to patriarchy too!

The past two weeks saw the biggest part of the job take place (certainly the part that causes most stress to the builders because it's so serious if anything goes wrong): the load-bearing walls coming down.

We took out 2 major walls in the kitchen to make it as large and open-plan a space as possible.  I love this part!  Even with all the dust and noise, there's no way they could get me off site, despite their pleading!  There's just something so transformative about walls coming down!  

Heavy beams arriving on site and heading into the house

...while old wall comes down

New support wall built...

Ta-dah!

Another wall ready to go - this time it's double brick so needs a lot of steel

Strong-boys in place but open to the hallway!

Elsewhere, more subtle transformations were also taking place...

Smooth new plaster over textured ceilings

...and I was gearing up for a little work of my own!

Ready to try and find the perfect grey

Does this count as a triptych?!

In other news this week, my builder felt the need to twice commend me by saying "Good girl!".

The first time, I pointed out it was a bit patronising and asked him to please not say it again, which he dismissed telling me that calling me a girl is a compliment, meaning I'm young and I've still got it!

The second time, after a trying day, I really saw red and so, in what may have been overly forceful terms, I made my point rather more clearly, including pointing out that I pay his (insert choice word here) bills and patting him on the head with a "Well done!  Good boy!"!

Too much?  Either way, I don't think he'll be saying it to me again any time soon!

Ripping out - aka floors up, walls down

So, it's been a busy time with lots happening on site.  The big changes are mostly happening on one side of the building.  The best way to share the progress is with some photos, don't you think?  (Please don't forget before you look at these, things often have to get worse in order to get better, right?!)

Let's start with the huge guest bedroom en suite and the tiny family bathroom with no space for a bath, which are next to each other on the top floor.  Clearly not a great layout! 

With the wall down between them it was a long process deciding the position of the new dividing wall and layouts of the two new rooms, but it won't be a surprise that we are pinching most of the old guest en suite, (previously home to a shower cubicle and roll top bath!) for the family bathroom.  Sorry guests!

Another plasterboard wall comes down as it's too shaky to leave, let alone put floor to ceiling tiles on.

Pretend bath to try and help plan layout!

Boxing in the boiler as it's staying put

Tiny new en suite - it will look bigger finished!

And what happened to the old roll top bath?  She went to a new home at the end of last week.

We have ebayed a lot of BH's old fixtures and fittings.  Doors, granite worktops, kitchen cabinets, shower screens, 20 radiators!  Even if we didn't get much money for some of them it saves us paying to get a skip to take them away.  What's left goes on freecycle!

The kitchen looked passable before we started but in reality it was grimy after years of tenants' use and the floor tiles were coming up where they had been laid badly.  So it all had to come out!

This is the master bedroom complete with boudoir bath!  Lovely but not quite us!

So all that came out, and it clicked that the kitchen is the same size as the master bedroom and the kitchen has lovely old original boards that would be wasted sitting under all the tiles we'll be putting in while we will be leaving the bedroom with exposed floorboards, so (you can guess what's coming!) we decided to pinch the lovely original floorboards for the master bedroom and move the bedroom's modern ones down to the kitchen!

(Thankfully my builder did this extra work for a great price.  He is still at the very understanding and eager-to-please stage seeing as he's just been working on this and with me for 2 weeks!)

Spot the difference?!

(Ofcourse our Eastern European builders think we're nuts!  Why would you take up floorboards in good condition to put down old ones that are full of splits and holes?!)

And a mini make-over on the other side of the house where the old damp stained plaster has come off the chimney breast to reveal the beautiful exposed brick, complete with characterful offset fireplace opening!  Love it!

This coming week should see the load-bearing walls in the kitchen coming down so you can bet I'll be there to capture the moment!  Hope you'll be back to see it too!

Time to make some new introductions

Well, dear reader, what have you been up to since we last met?  It's been nearly a year and a half since my last post and this ragazza has been busy with our little boy who is now 16 months old and an absolute joy (well, 99% of the time!) and working on our latest exciting property project.

Before you start to worry that you've missed all the good bits of the project already, the reality is, this house took us a year just to buy it!  April of last year we first saw it and 31st March of this year we completed the purchase.  That's a long time by anyone's standards and this building was a really tricky one to get finance on - I think it was the 7th broker who managed to get us a mortgage!  Good news is, getting all the problems resolved to sort out the finance have already added real value so not only am I super excited to share with you our plans for transforming this space, I'm happy to say this renovation ragazza hasn't lost her touch since becoming a mama!

So all this is an introduction to the next big project.  She's a beautiful old Victorian house and will be our biggest home to date by far, particularly exciting as Mr RR, little man and I have all been living in a 1 bed since he was born!  Where the 1 bed has been affectionately known as the little house, this new one is the big house, hereafter BH.

The story so far is that while the electricians and guys working on the windows did a few days last week, the builders didn't start proper until yesterday.  But boy did they make their presence known!  It makes me so happy to see things happening - all the old tiles off the walls, all the old showers out.  It's destruction but such good destruction!  I'll get some before and after photos to you soon showing the rip out.  But here's a little glimpse of the old dear's charm.

The big news yesterday was that a lady walked past and asked one of the guys working if I'd be interested in selling BH to her!  I'm proud to say that's happened before on projects and I always take it as an incredible compliment, but to have that on the very first day is a new record!

So that's it for now.  I'm not sure how often I'm going to get on here or how much sense my ramblings will make as life is a lot busier now than it was when working on the Italian project, but I'm so excited about our plans for BH and I'd like to share it with you, so I truly hope you'll enjoy coming along for the ride.  

Stracciatella, staccato rhythms and smutty jokes!

Another good giggle today courtesy of my metal-working friends.  But first stracciatella: a cheese that originated in Puglia, kind of like shredded mozzarella and cream all mushed together.  You end up with this wonderful, rich, semi-solid gooeyness that is just so good!  Definitely check it out when you're here along with burrata which is probably best described as stracciatella encased in mozzarella.  Dee-lish!

(Because straccia means shred, stracciatella is also the name of a popular flavour of ice cream - vanilla with chocolate flakes - and in other parts of Italy a kind of soup, so be sure to clarify what you're expecting if you order some in a restaurant!)

Stracciatella - not the soup or the ice cream!

The reason I'm sharing this with you today is because we were given some as a gift in a shop on Saturday where we were only purchasing a few bread rolls.  The lady had already given us a chunk of mozzarella each to try, then this tub of stracciatella to take away - really I was quite touched by her generosity, especially as there was no-one else around to see.  Her reasoning - once you taste this you'll come back.  And she's right, we will!  Just 10 minutes before when buying some fruit and veg the owner had thrown in an extra handful of chillies for us and it's not the first time he's done similar (this is the same gent who gave us an extra half punnet of tomatoes along with the furry cucumber last week!)  Such little gestures of generosity and friendliness can really make your day.

And so on to staccato rhythms!  (Well, blues festival just wasn't working on the alliteration front!)  Around this time of year Monopoli really comes to life with street entertainment, markets and outdoor food and drink stands all looking to keep the hordes of tourists happy.  Not all of the entertainment is of the standard I'd expect to see granted a public audience if back home in UK, and coming from a town with an incredible live music scene, Mr RR and I often commented last year how blown away they'd be here if that kind of talent could be convinced to come play in this town.

So far this year, I've been embarrassed and perplexed in equal measure at the 2 physical comedy / clown acts I've seen (I don't think I'm doing them a disservice to describe the 10 minutes I saw of one act as 2 guys dressed a bit funny, moving in circles on the stage moving a wig from one's head to the other's - I mean, really?!  Even the Italian kids weren't laughing!) so it was a lovely surprise, when we saw there was a 2 day blues festival going on, to hear some sound checking early in the evening and to recognise the singer had an incredible voice.  After a few cocktails on the seafront, we returned to catch the set and it was really impressive: all the musicians clearly very talented.

It was the first year they'd held this event so I hope the crowds of people were testament enough to its success and it will return.  Kudos Monopoli!  You gained a lot of credibility with this ragazza!

The whole gang get together for a grand finale

And so on to this afternoon, where the metalwork for the 2 apartments came to be checked in situ before it gets painted white.  Overall I was really happy with it.  Given there'd been so much confusion when explaining the look I wanted, it was a relief to see that more or less they'd got it spot on.  

Beautiful curve

Railings slightly bent out of shape = deformato!

You'll see in the second photo a gap between the stairs and the mezzanine level above.  We had discussed having some kind of metal swirl to fill this gap to stop children getting their heads stuck or squeezing through to land on the hard floors!  (Mr RR says if they do that then it's just evolution at work, but I'd prefer my friends with little ones could relax here rather than worry their kids will fail the evolution test!)  One of the guys had made a beautiful swirling shape for this purpose, exactly the kind of thing I love, but it was unfortunately at least 30% too small to be of any use.  I couldn't help myself!  I started to point out it was a bit small, that I was sorry because it was beautiful but it just wasn't going to be enough, and so on, and soon we were all in giggles, the man suggesting he could try to stretch it, the others loving telling him it was too small!  Now I don't know if good Puglian women use innuendo or whether this was entirely inappropriate and that's what helped them to laugh so much, but I read another ex-pat's blog who said she was only making jokes in Italian that people actually laughed at in her second year here, so I'm figuring this is me, my sense of humour and I'm ahead of schedule: it's all good!